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HTC Desire 516 coming to Europe to take on the Moto G

HTC has announced that the Desire 516, one of HTC’s budget handsets, is coming to Europe. Previously only available in China and India, the device is a dual SIM, 5 inch device powered by a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 processor.

The screen resolution of the Desire 516 is quite low at just 540 x 960, which means it has a pixel density of just 220 ppi. The Desire 516 only comes with 4GB of internal flash, however it does have a micro SD card slot, which allows you to add an additional 32GB of storage. There is a 5MP rear-facing camera and a 2MP front-facing camera and the device supports 3G on 900 MHz an 2100 MHz. The device has a 1950 mAh battery which, according to HTC, gives up to 9 hours of talk time on 3G networks. It ships with Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean, but according to recently leaked documents from HTC, it doesn’t look like it will be getting Android 4.4 KitKat.

HTC's angle is that the 516's dual SIM feature will enable business users to buy one phone but be able to keep their business and personal contacts separate, without needing to juggle multiple phones.

Compared to the Moto G the HTC Desire 516 isn’t a very attractive choice unless you want a micro SD card slot and dual SIM support. The 4G version of the Moto G does include a SD card slot and it is possible to “unofficially” buy a dual SIM version of the Moto G in Europe from online markets such as eBay.

The standard Moto G has a smaller 4.5 inch screen, however it has a 720p HD resolution with a pixel density of 326 ppi. The display is also protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 3. The Moto G is powered by a quad-core Qualcomm MSM8226 Snapdragon 400, and the handset runs Android 4.4 KitKat.

HTC’s choice of launch market is interesting for a budget handset, as is the starting price. The device will be launched in Austria and Switzerland, two countries which economically are doing well compared to other European counties like Poland, Hungary or Romania. HTC’s angle is that the 516’s dual SIM feature will enable business users to buy one phone but be able to keep their business and personal contacts separate, without needing to juggle multiple phones.

The HTC Desire 516 will cost 199 Euros in Austria and 219 CHF in Switzerland. By comparison the single SIM Moto G costs around 170 Euros.

Gary has been a tech writer for over a decade and specializes in open source systems. He has a Bachelor's degree in Business Information Systems.He has many years of experience in system design and development as well as system administration, system security and networking protocols. He also knows several programming languages, as he was previously a software engineer for 10 years.